The sun sometimes shines in Missouri

For some time, I’ve thought about creating a blog about Missouri’s Sunshine Law, but just
haven’t gotten it done. But if one never starts, it never happens, so now it’s happened and I’m on
my way.

Probably my biggest frustration with the law is finding all the gray areas in it that become visible
when various situations arise where I’m attempting to apply the law to the problems I hear about
day by day in my role as the attorney taking calls for the Missouri Press Association. It has
taught me that drafting laws is an incredibly artful skill and that perhaps those with political
agendas (with a small p ) are often at work creating language that comes back to frustrate me in
ways I never imagined when I was working through the language as it passed through the
legislature. It’s hard to stay ahead of all the twists that can develop in words that seem plain and
simple on their face.

I’ll try to talk sporadically about issues I see developing here and the frustrations that develop in
dealing with this law on a day-to-day basis.